Bad news budget: Quinn to call for prison, health care cuts

CaptionTamms supermax

Tribune photo by John Smierciak

Tamms inmate Joseph Dole, serving a life sentence for murder, sits in his cell and talks with a reporter through dime-size holes in the metal cell door. Some critics compare the conditions inside the super maximum-security prison in Tamms, Ill., to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....

Tamms inmate Joseph Dole, serving a life sentence for murder, sits in his cell and talks with a reporter through dime-size holes in the metal cell door. Some critics compare the conditions inside the super maximum-security prison in Tamms, Ill., to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.... (Tribune photo by John Smierciak)

Two Tamms correctional officers remove inmate Damien Terry's shackles before placing him back in his cell. Inmate movement is severely limited at Tamms. Prisoners are always handcuffed and shackled and escorted by guards whenever they're moved to other areas of the prison.

Two Tamms correctional officers remove inmate Damien Terry's shackles before placing him back in his cell. Inmate movement is severely limited at Tamms. Prisoners are always handcuffed and shackled and escorted by guards whenever they're moved to other areas of the prison. (Tribune photo by John Smierciak)

Tamms inmate Damien Terry (bottom left) looks out from his cell in J-Pod. A typical pod consists of six wings with 10 cells in each wing. Unlike other state prisons, inmates at Tamms are housed one per cell.

Tamms inmate Damien Terry (bottom left) looks out from his cell in J-Pod. A typical pod consists of six wings with 10 cells in each wing. Unlike other state prisons, inmates at Tamms are housed one per cell. (Tribune photo by John Smierciak)

The names of some of the inmates housed in J-Pod at the Tamms super-max prison are written on an erasable board near the entrance. Opened in 1998, the prison has only operated at about 50 percent capacity. Correctional officials say this shows they are very selective about who they send to the...

The names of some of the inmates housed in J-Pod at the Tamms super-max prison are written on an erasable board near the entrance. Opened in 1998, the prison has only operated at about 50 percent capacity. Correctional officials say this shows they are very selective about who they send to the... (Tribune photo by John Smierciak)

Yolande Johnson, the acting warden at Tamms, waits for a security door to close behind her before the next one can be opened. Every person must pass through 12 locked doors before they reach the inmate pods.

Yolande Johnson, the acting warden at Tamms, waits for a security door to close behind her before the next one can be opened. Every person must pass through 12 locked doors before they reach the inmate pods. (Tribune photo by John Smierciak)

SPRINGFIELD -- Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn will deliver a bad-news budget today, suggesting that Illinois close numerous prisons, mental health centers and social service offices, cut health care for the poor and shut down popular tourist sites for two days a week at times during the year.

Money for schools would remain essentially flat -- a better fate than the 9 percent cuts most state agencies would suffer.

The problem is the same as it's been for years at the Capitol -- there's not enough money coming in while costs are rising. The quick math: The state expects to take in about $700 million more during the financial year that starts July 1. State worker pension costs alone will rise by more than $1 billion.

"There's no new money for anything else, that's the squeeze," said David Vaught, Quinn's budget director.

Quinn aides said Tuesday that the governor will not call for general tax or fee hikes, but does plan to call for closing business tax loopholes that companies argue are tax hikes because they have to pay more to the state. Absent a lack of major new revenue, that means major cuts once again are on the agenda.

To that end, the governor will suggest closing the controversial Tamms super-max prison in far southern Illinois, the women's prison in Dwight and juvenile justice centers in Joliet and downstate Murphysboro. There also are several smaller offices slated for closing and consolidation within the Department of Corrections. Those include adult transition centers known as Crossroads Chicago, Westside Chicago, Aurora, Decatur, Carbondale and Peoria.

Shutting down the super-maximum prison already is drawing plaudits from groups across the county that contend the conditions at Tamms are so harsh that it qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment.

John Maki, executive director of the John Howard Association, said Tamms is "overly harsh" on prisoners, who are kept in near-isolation. The prisoners face psychological damage that can make behavior worse, he said. But while it would be cheaper to house super-max inmates elsewhere, Maki said, it "doesn't make sense" to close the women's prison at Dwight and it doesn't address cells that are "seriously overcrowded."

In addition to already-planned closures of Tinley Park Mental Health Center and Jacksonville Developmental Center, Quinn will call for closure of the Singer Mental Health Center in Rockford and Murray Developmental Center in Centralia in spring 2013.

The Department of Children and Family Services would consolidate offices in its Chicago division, and the Department of Human Services would consolidate as many as two dozen local offices across the state.

Quinn also is calling for a string of consolidations at telecommunication centers and a forensic lab in Carbondale with the state police, at an animal lab in Centralia with the Agriculture Department and at state garages where vehicles are repaired.

Along with the flow of bad news, the governor also hopes to stimulate the state's lagging economy with a public works program for schools and universities, water infrastructure and decrepit state buildings. Quinn aides said the idea is to spend $1 billion in construction money each on education, water and state buildings, but declined to say how to raise the money to pay for it in hopes of brokering a funding plan with lawmakers.

Even before Quinn's noon speech to the General Assembly, Democrats were decrying the cuts and Republicans were arguing Quinn wasn't cutting enough.

The Tribune reported Monday that Quinn will seek to slice $2.7 billion in Medicaid costs, a action that could reduce service and types of care available for the state and federal program to provide health care to the poor.

Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, lambasted the governor for balancing the budget "off the backs of the sickest and the weakest and the least of thee."

Following a legislative hearing about expected state income, Flowers also chastised Quinn for considering a cutback in hours at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield -- the most popular presidential library in the nation, which draws more than 350,000 tourists and schoolchildren a year. Some tourist sites would close up to two days a week during off-peak times, the administration said.

"I'm not happy at all," Flowers said. "In light of Presidents Day just being a couple of days past, Lincoln would probably be sitting at his desk with the candlelight burning, crying and knowing that the children of this state would be deprived of the opportunity to learn about our history."

Republicans predicted that Quinn's budget numbers, when fully examined, could show an increase in spending over the current budget by $50 million to $550 million, depending on how different costs are calculated.

"He's creating an impression that he's making deep spending cuts when, in fact the budget that he's going to release tomorrow increases spending over the one that runs a deficit this year," said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine. "So the idea that fiscal responsibility has come to the Quinn administration is patently false."

The Quinn administration estimates 750 state jobs would be eliminated through layoffs and attrition, bringing the state payroll down to 51,560 workers. That drew a strong response from the largest state employees union.

"Further devastating cuts to public services and thousands of lost jobs are the worst possible approach to what ails our state," said Anders Lindall, spokesman for theAmerican Federation of State, County and Municipal EmployeesCouncil 31.

The governor will call on lawmakers to make major changes to the state employee pension system and Medicaid program, but aides said Tuesday night that Quinn will not offer up specific ideas. Instead, the governor wants to see what proposals will come out of legislative groups formed to study the two key issues.

That same approach will extend to business tax loopholes that Quinn wants to close to generate more money. The governor will call for a team effort with lawmakers to ferret out which loopholes will be targeted, said Brooke Anderson, a Quinn spokeswoman. Business groups generally have been successful in beating back such moves in recent years.

One industry Quinn plans to target is oil. He wants to impose a tax on companies with drilling rigs so far out at sea that they sit on the outer continental shelves and thus avoid paying taxes. The administration hopes it will generate up to $75 million.

Overall, Quinn expects to have $33.9 billion to spend -- about $700 million more than this year -- and hopes as much as $163 million of that can be used to pay down old bills. But Illinois still would carry over $8 billion in unpaid bills.

Many of the proposed closures would hit downstate areas represented by Republicans who frequently call for cutting the state budget but are reluctant to shutter state facilities in their own districts.

The state's money woes continue despite a major income tax increase more than a year ago.